Chain Reaction
by Jiya Mason
Summary: Zinaida finds herself discovering things she never knew about herself, after her sister Tamara hires people to try and kill her.
1. Chapter 1

**Chain Reaction: Chapter 1**

** 7 Months ago... **

Here I stand as everyone gives me admonished looks. Although this house party is not my setting I shouldn't have to change myself to fit everyone's standard. They act as if they're predominant! Sure I'm a prep and their not but that shouldn't be an opening for everyone to want to throttle me. Someone's hand touches my shoulder and I jumped from the massive Cardiac Arrest I've just been put through only to see my friend Liam grinning down at me with his perfectly white teeth.

"Thanks for that Liam," I said sarcastically while rolling my eyes.

"But, what do you mean?" He said angelically while batting his eye lashes. For Liam, I've always said it's too bad that his eye features were wasted on a male. He has sapphire eyes with eye lashes the length of my dark brown hair. Which if I may mention comes down to my lumbar spinal cord!

"I feel so out of place here, why are we here again?" I ask him giving him a hasty, desperate can we leave look. But instead of him seizing my hand to drag me away from the party he just looks at me in dissatisfaction and says,

"Zinaida, you know why we're here. This is your sister's party and she wants you here." I found it odd that she wanted me here. I mean she never wants me around.

"I DON'T FIT IN WITH MY SISTERS FRIENDS OR MY SISTER!" I said emphasising on my sister each time.

"Don't take this out on me. You and your sister have problems but you should still be there for each other." I snapped instantly, he had no right to say those words to me. He doesn't know half the things that have gone on in my life between my sister and I.

"OK, better question why are you here," I said poking at his chest. "You weren't even invited and you have the nerve to tell me about my sister!"

"Actually, your sis asked me to bring you here and you obviously need to cool down so I'll be somewhere else." I clenched his wrist stopping him from leaving.

"Wait you can't leave me here alone! Everyone is out to get me!" I said hysterically.

"I don't blame them." He said coldly while unhinging my hand from his wrist. He swiftly walked away and within a blink of an eye he was gone.

A girl was going around offering everyone alcoholic beverages. When she came to me I took one despite my age. The drink was so strong I started feeling dizzy within minutes. This wasn't the best situation I could be in at 11 P.M. while being left alone once again. I figured if I were to go outside there would be less people whose eyes would be burning into my body. I started walking down the hallway bumping into almost every person in sight due to all the alcohol that had been released into my body. Finally I came to the great brown door with a golden door knob; the only problem was a boy with a buff figure, blond hair and brown eyes was standing in front of the door. I cleared my throat and said,

"Am, excuse me may I get by?" He just gave me a long deep stare I thought he was going to kill me. But instead he just gave me a mischievous smile and stepped aside letting me by. As soon as I got outside I shook my head in my weak attempt to stop the dizziness. Outside of the house a cool breeze hit my face, it was a refreshing feeling. I smiled up at the starts because the earth just looked so beautiful. When I looked back down I found myself surrounded by two guys. One was the boy at the door but this time he had a friend he had black hair brown eyes. They started to shove me back and forth I didn't know what was happening or why it was happening but it was.

The last thing I remember was being hit in the head with a heavy object. As soon as I opened my eyes I felt a sharp pain rush through my body when I tried to move. But there was Liam before me with such shock, no more like a mortified look on his face and tears streaming down as well. When I glanced around it finally clicked that I was in a hospital and the nurse was giving me an injection.

"What happened," I said with trouble and dazed.

"Y-Y-Y," Liam tried to speak over his bawling but failed. So my eyes wandered to find the nurse since I could barely move my body.

"You were beaten up pretty badly," She said writing what I think was observations on her clipboard. I was going to ask: Wait, I was what, why? But before I got the strength for me to speak my thoughts Liam intercepted, almost as if he was reading my mind. But I do think the total confusion on my face gave it away. After all Liam has known me since we were two and now we're 18.

"You know why," That seemed to be his response with everything but he continued "It's because you didn't fit in with that crowed. I should have never left you there alone and whoever did this is going to pay!" I took all the strength that I had from my body to rest my hand on his shoulder. When I did this he started to vociferate all over again with cries.

"Liam," I said in a soothing but squeaky voice "Don't change yourself you never believe in an eye for an eye. No matter how much a person can hurt you, never give in or else you're just making what they did even more pleasurable and worthwhile. Liam just buried his head in his hands because he knew the statement made was true. Although when I thought about my statement it was so cliché but so true. The nurse just smiled down at me. I was surprised I found it in me to push myself to talk to Liam because the next question the nurse asked my voice barely came out.

"You should be out in about three months."

"Three months! How bad is it?" I said in a suffocated voice.

"You had a concussion, broken limb, and several wounds which caused you to lose a lot of blood." The blood part pretty much explained the blood bag above my hospital bed. Liam's sobs grew louder each time she mentioned the things that have happened to me. As soon as the nurse finished what she was doing she was on her way.

"Press the button if you need anything hon." She said as she shut the gray door behind her.

Liam kept crying but soon fell asleep on the sofa which was a relief because now I could get some sleep to! I took a deep breath and shut my eyes.

The sun greeted me in the morning as I tried to shield my face with my hair from the blinding ray. How is it possible you can get worse within one day? Now I couldn't even move my hands. Suddenly the blinds started to close, at first I thought it was Liam because he wasn't on the sofa. But it turns out it was just the nurse.

"Good morning! You're friend went to go get some breakfast he should be back up soon." I was going to say thanks but it came out like,

"Taks," Although my voice was looser it was still croaky so I cleared my throat and tried again "Thanks," this time the whole word came out but it was still a rough thanks.

When Liam came up he looked much better which made me feel better now that I didn't have to worry about him. I guess I did enough convincing last night to show Liam that getting even won't do anything. As long as I knew that my best friend didn't change himself for the world I'm as good as new. I eventually did get breakfast but I couldn't eat it. Instead a tube was shoved down my throat with some liquid food. After that torture, Liam sat down to talk with me.

"Z, although I'm not going to beat up the person who did this to you, we're not going to let them get away with it. Do you remember what the person looked like?"

"Yes," I spoke slowly "But it wasn't just one of them there were two." Liam's eyes narrowed but he stayed composed for what I think was my sake and hopefully his as well. "Where's my sister?" I asked. Liam just shrugged. That was weird I know Tamara is shallow and doesn't care about me that much but she couldn't be this cruel not to visit me in a hospital!

"Look don't get off topic," Liam said putting his hands on mine. "What did they look like?" So I explained in detail all I could remember about them and everything I remembered after Liam and I got into the fight at the party. After all I was drunk, not that I'm going to mention that to him before he thinks I'm not telling the truth about the two boys. Even though I was drunk their faces could never leave my mind. Liam just kept nodding and taking note in his head as I gave the description. When I was done speaking Liam had a big input.

"The two boys you just described are Jared and Jeremy Lockwood. They were both associated with your sister if you know what I mean." He said with an arched eye brow and I just shuddered.

"You don't think she made them do this to me do you?" I said about to burst into tears.

"I can't make that assumption until you give me the whole story on the feud between you and your sister. I mean it doesn't make sense you both used to get along so well," He said in befuddlement but when I stayed quiet he gave me a reassuring look and said, "You can trust me." And I knew I could plus he needed the clarity of what was going on.

"Two years ago, you were in Germany on vacation. No one ever told you what actually happened that summer." Tears pooled down my face.

"Take your time." He said caringly but I knew he was eager from his body posture.

"Tamara, her boyfriend and I were driving home from the movies. Tamara absolutely fell in love with this guy."

"And how come I don't know about him. Or ever met him?"

"Because they fell in love within the two months that you were gone, which is beyond me. But Jason was perfect for Tamara. Anyways, I didn't put gas into the car like Tamara told me to before we left because I thought we would have enough to take us to and fro. But I was wrong you know how bad my estimations are. So we had to stop at a petro gas station on our way back from the movies. When I went inside to go pay with Jason, talk about terrible timing someone was robbing the convenience store at the same time. And the robber used me as a victim he was pointing a gun to my head and Jason stopped the robber from letting the gun shoot me. But instead he got shot. 10 minutes later he died from blood loss. Tamara was petrified and I was just in utter shock from what I had just witnessed, I actually felt paralyzed. I've never seen someone get shot nor seen a gun in my life before. But Tamara never forgave me for what happened, she always blamed me for his death. I keep replaying in my head what would have happened if I did listen to Tamara and filled up before we left. But no matter how much I think about it, it's not going to change what happened. I didn't point the gun at his head sure I do feel guilty that it was him and not me but you know. Jason was too much of a good person to still be with us upon this earth." My throat was absolutely killing me after this whole story so I struggled to lean over and grab the class of water that rested on my night stand. But in my fail attempt yet again Liam helped me out by passing me the water.

"Yes," he said nodding.

"What?"

"Yes, I think Tamara did plan this and I'm going to tell the police our theory. So this really had nothing to do with you being a prep." He grunted. Well the people at the party would tell you otherwise but I just kept that comment to myself.

"Be careful, Tamara may look like a total airhead but when it comes to revenge she becomes this evil little conniving genius. She'll do anything in her path to get what she wants." I said with no hint of humour on my face.

"After what she's had done to you she can't get in my way," after his statement he started to walk towards the door.

"Where are you going?"I said in a whispered raspy tone, but he just left. Then the nurse walked in.

"How are you holding up?"

"Pretty good." I said smiling up at her

"Where's your family at? Ever since you've came here only that boy has visited you." She said nosily but I answered.

"Liam is my only family, my parents died a while back. And my sister, well she's just a nutcase."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said with a sympathetic face. Soon after our conversation she changed my blood bag. As soon as she left it was me, myself, and I for the next 12 hours. The only thing I could do in that time was watch T.V. and eat. Thankfully this time not through a tube but a straw stuck in a bowl of soup. Now at 10 o'clock at night before I'm about to go to sleep I hear the door creek open thinking it's either the nurse or Liam but not this time. I wondered who it could be visiting me this late at night. I didn't quite recognize the silhouette of the person but as the figure got closer I realized who it was. I immediately froze with fear. It was Jeremy, I was going to scream but he covered my mouth before I got the chance to. Then he bent down to my level and whispered in my ear,

"Try and call for help and I will snap your neck." So I lay their shaking and soon remembered the button but I wasn't that slick when I tried to press it. "You don't listen do you? Your little boyfriend came and threatened to snitch on Tamara and us Lockwood's. You can let him know if he does so I will hunt you and him down and end both of you." He said while choking me. Suddenly a policeman and Liam barged into the room. The policeman pointed his gun at Jeremy.

"Take your hands off of her you're coming with me," The policeman barked. When he finished dragging Jeremy out of the room Liam was by my side. He started to wipe my tears away.

"Sorry I had to put you through that."

"What do you mean? You were responsible for that?"

"I knew by going after Tamara and threatening her and her team one of her slaves aka the Lockwood's would come after you and threaten us both. So I told the policeman our hunch and brought him to the hospital. When we saw Jeremy walk in we followed him and waited behind the door when he went in. The policeman and I heard everything."

"But don't you think Tamara will get Jared to come after us?" He just chuckled at my statement.

"Jeremy may claim to be loyal but when it's his arse on the line he will do anything in his way to bring down the people who were apart of his crime. Not to worry."

"Liam, you're such a good friend." He just leaned over and kissed me on the forehead good night.

"Now get some sleep Z, you're safe now." I just smiled and closed my eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Ready, Set, Fresh Start! I think...**

Things change you have to adapt to that. People leave and time moves on that's just the way it works. Soon after I was released from the hospital Liam and I had to go our separate ways. We had our studies to focus on hence we gradually lost touch. I go to U of T while Liam goes to Oxford in England. Although I do miss him at times I always have to realize that friends come and go. But it does sadden me that he had to be the one to go.

I study Neuroscience; I've always been fascinated with the brain for some reason. And one day I hope to become a great Neurosurgeon!

"Zinaida!" My friend Sage calls from across the library as everyone quiets her. She ran down the hall and flew right on top of my desk. Sage became my new best friend, I met her on my first day of U of T and it just so happened that she was my roommate. Glad I still contained some luck!

"Exams are going to kill me!" She said putting her hand to her forehead in a dramatic fainting motion.

"Imagine how much it would kill you if you actually studied," I said sarcastically.

"You're right, I would die a terrible death!" She played along, I just grinned. I was always amazed by sage she was always so happy and upbeat. She kind of reminded me when I was like her. The whole incident made me change, I'm not as happy as I used to be.

"You need to take a break little missy! You always study day and night," then she started to sing the song lyrics of day and night while she did her retarded dance. Next thing we knew sage was being escorted out by the librarian's assistant, which isn't much of a punishment considering he's cute. Sage just turned around blew me a kiss and waved goodbye. As she left the library I thought I saw her blushing, I could always tell because she had perfect medium olive tone skin so her flush would always show.

It took me about three more hours until I was finished studying for our exam that was in a week! I carefully placed all my books into my bag and left the library. As I walked along the side walk I figured I might as well go get some food off campus for dinner. Thank the lord for the PHO restaurant that's five minutes away from the library! I called up sage and told her to meet me there. Throughout my whole walk the only thing that was on my mind was exams and whenever I think about something, I tend to walk turbo speed, so I ended up getting to the restaurant within two minutes. And not surprising that sage was there before me. Whenever she hears food she moves faster than superman which surprises me since she's a size one!

"Hey hon," She hugged me and kissed my cheek while on her cell. Three seconds later she hung up. "I invited some friends, I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all, I need to have more of a social life. It seems all I do here is work to the core!" I said tying back my hair in a high pony.

"You're face looks so cute when it's in a pony," Sage said while pinching my cheeks. I pushed her hand away to avoid smashing my dimples. Finally a waitress seated us to a table, now it was a waiting game until Sage's friends arrived.

"Honey, you look like you're about to drop dead!" Sage said with worry

"U of T can have that impact on you. Sage you never study how did you get into this school and maintain staying here? What do you even study!" I said angrily. You couldn't blame me I was working my butt off and getting bags under my eyes while she put no effort into any book work whatsoever.

"Ok, here's my secret I use Olay!" When she saw the annoyance on my face she spoke again, "I'm in the Arts department; I'm a triple threat, I do study but not as much because art just comes naturally to me. I maintain a 94% average." I just nodded too tired to speak anymore. It didn't surprise me that I didn't know what Sage studied; we were close but never really talked about our studies. Since it's exams it kind of gives us an excuse to talk about it.

Twenty minutes later and still a no show for sage's friends, so sage and I just ordered. During our meal we literally ate without chewing, I guess that's what happens when you don't eat all day. When we were done sage went to the restroom while I paid the bill. Suddenly I see sage running down the aisle only to find her running into Jeremy Lockwood's arms. Along with Jared Lockwood by his side, I almost didn't recognize Jared because this time his hair was a chocolate brown color. But the reality was it was them the people that teamed up with my sister and tried to kill me. Then they started to approach me,

"Zinaida, this is my boyfriend Jeremy and his brother Jared," Sage introduced. I just sat there unable to move, just when I thought coming to U of T would be a fresh start all hell breaks loose.


End file.
